Shoaib Akhtar To Judge Comedy Show With Harbhajan Singh

Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar laughs during a training session at The Suriyawewa Mahinda Rajapakse International Cricket Stadium in the southern district of Hambantota on February 21,2011. Pakistan are set to face Kenya in a match of the World Cup tournament on February 23, 2011. AFP PHOTO/ Lakruwan WANNIARACHCHI (Photo credit should read LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP/Getty Images)

Former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar will now become a regular in your drawing rooms. If you are big on Hindi entertainment television channels that is. Akhtar will now be seen judging a comedy show along with Harbhajan Singh. The show titled Indian Mazaak Leage will be beamed on Life Ok and will find Akhtar in a completely different avtar from the fierce, bristling fast bowler one remembers him from the cricket field.

Akhtar told Mumbai Mirror: "I've had my share of fun in the dressing room with a-joke-a-minute contemporaries like Mohammad Yousuf and Shoaib Malik and seniors like Wasim Akram and Inzamam-ul-Haq. My namesake takes mimicry to another level. There was so much of banter and harmless leg-pulling that my jaws would ache. Among the Indian cricketers Ashish Nehra and Yuvraj Singh are a riot, as also Virender Sehwag."

He added that cricketers routinely indulge in lighthearted humour in the dressing room as professional sport can be stressful and demanding at most times.

Harbhajan Singh, his co-judge, jokingly mentioned an incident where he alleged that he was beaten up by Akhtar and had Yuvraj Singh for company. Akhtar responded by saying, "They got along well with me and used to come to my room and have dinner together. Yuvi wanted to go for sightseeing in Islamabad. We have been good friends so how can I beat them."

Akhtar is not new to Indian television. He had appeared in the Kapil Sharma show last year along with Harbhajan Singh and had joked about Pakistani cricket. However, his act seemed to have angered the media and Pakistani cricket fans back home.

Before Akhtar, Pakistani cricketing star Wasim Akram had been a part of dance reality show in 2008 which had cricketers dance with starlets. Akram judged the show with Sushmita Sen.